Process of liberating and separating fibers.



UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

PROCESS OF LIBERATING AND SEPARATING FIBERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 31, 1905.

Application filed February 2, 1905. $erial No. 243,908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY SPENCER BLACK- MORE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Mount Vernon, in the county of Westchester and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inProcesses of Liberating and Separating Fibers; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same. A

The object of my invention is to liberate and separate fibers from theirnaturally uniting or binding constituents with which they are found innaturesuch as cutose, vasculose, &c.in such a manner that the fibers arenot injured and that the gummy or binding constituents are removed bysimple and economical means.

My invention particularly relates to the separation of ramie fiber, butis not limited thereto, as many other fibers may be liberated orseparated by my process, such as jute, New Zealand flax, &c.

It is well known that the substances which bind fibers of ramie andsimilar vegetation consist largely of complex acid substitution productscombined more or less with calcium, forming ordinarily insolublecompounds, such as the calcium salts of oleocutic, stereocutic, pectic,and similar organic acids.

My invention therefore consists in transforming the insolubleingredients of the fi hers into soluble compounds without affecting orinjuring the fiber and separating the individual fibers from each otherby the increase in bulk of chemicals introduced between the fibersinduced by decomposition or combination.

In carrying out my process I prefer to proceed as follows: I take thestalk, such as ramie, from which it is desired to separate the fiber andplace the same in a receptacle containing a ten-per-cent. solution ofalkali aluminate, such as sodium aluminate, preferably in a heatedstate, (about 200 Fahrenheit.) The receptacle is then closed and thestalks allowed to digest for about an hour, when the pressure ispreferably reduced by exhaustion, which withdraws from the stalks anyoccluded air within the pores between the fibers.

I prefer to treat the fibrous material in drums holding about twohundred and fifty gallons of ten-per-cent. solution of sodium aluminateand. add thereto from time to time fresh portions of alkali aluminate toc0mpen sate for that taken up by the decomposition of the bindingconstituents of the fiber, so that the solution may be maintained atabout a uniform density. I then subject the material to an increasedpressure of steam to about sixty pounds, which further heats thesolution and drives itinto the material, thus thoroughly saturating itwith alkali aluminate. During the digestion under pressure the alkalialuminate and binding calcium salts are decomposed, producing alkalioleocutate, stereocutate, pectate, &c., and calcium aluminate. Thestalks containing the alkali aluminate are then removed from thechemical bath and thoroughly washed, and are then subjected in theirmoist condition to the action of ammonia-gas under pressure of about onehundred pounds, which is absorbed by the moisture within the poresbetween the fibers with great avidity. After subjecting the fibers tothe action of ammonia-gas for about thirty minutes the supply ofammonia-gas is cut off and carbon dioxid or carbonic anhydridisintroduced under a pressure of about three hundred pounds, whichimmediately combines with the ammonium hydroXid formerly produced withinthe pores between the fibers, thereby forming ammonium carbonate,bicarbonate, and carbamate, thereby increasing the bulk of chemicalsalts to such a degree within the pores that the fibers are readilyseparated from each other and the alkali neutralized by combination withthe carbonic acid. The reaction which takes place may be illustrated bythe following chemical formula or equation:

5NH3+3GO2+2H2O:

(N I'IihCOs-i- N I-LHCOH- N HiNHgUOa and parting the individual fibersby the for-,

mation of ammonium salts within the pores between the fibers, theincrease of bulk in formation of which separates the individual fibersfrom each other, and the ammonium salts thus produced within the poresbetween the fibers may be readily dissolved out by the action of warmwater, leaving the fibers practically free from each other. The ammoniafor bleaching operations may be recovered from these washings by theaction of calcium hydroxid or other means well known to chemists.

It is obvious that other combining agents may be employed in conjunctionwith ammonia to produce compounds of increased bulk within the poresbetween the fibers whereby the segregation of the fibers isaccoi'nplished, such as sulfur dioxid, (sulfurous anhydrid,) wherebyammonium sulfite would be produced instead of carbonate, bicarbonate,and carbamate, as in the case heretofore mentioned, the principal objectof this specific invention being that the ammonia, being of searchingcharacter and being absorbed with avidity by the moisture within thepores between the fibers, facilitates the saturation within the pores tosuch a degree that when exposed to the action of a combining agent toincrease the bulk thereof the result of the segregation of the fibers isaccomplished in shorter time and with greater case without contaminatingthe separated fiber with insoluble substances than is the case whensolutions of solids are en'iployed, it being noted that in thisspecificapplication the moistened fibers are exposed under pressure tothe action of gases of alkali and acid nature. which gases arealternately absorbed or taken up by the moisture within the poresbetween the fibers and in the presence of which combine with each other,increasing in bulk and forming solids, simultaneously absorbing themoisture present as water of hydration.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The process of liberating and separating fibers which consists intransforming the binding constituents of fibers into soluble compoundsby the action of chemical agents and finally separating the fibers fromeach other by exposing the moist fibers to the alternate action of fluidbodies of alkaline and acid nature whereby the fibers are segregated bythe combination of the alkaline with the acid fluids Within the poresbetween the fibers.

2. The process of liberating and separating fibers which consists intransforming the binding constituents of fibers into soluble compoundsby the action of chemical agents and finally separating the fibers fromeach other by subjecting the moist fibers to the action of gaseousammonia and a gaseous-acid anhydrid whereby the fibers are segregated bythe combination of the ammonia With the acid andydrid in the presence ofthe moisture.

3. The process of liberating and. separating fibers which consists intransforming the binding constituents of fibers into soluble compoundsby the action of chemical agents and finally separating the fibers fromeach other by subjecting the moist fibers to the action of ammonia andcarbon dioXid whereby the fibers are segregated by the combination ofthe ammonia with the carbon dioxid in the presence of themoisture.

at. The process of liberating and separating fibers which consists intransforming the binding constituents of fibers into soluble compoundsand exposing the moist stalks to the action of ammonia under pressureand finally separating the fibers from each other by exposing the moistammoniated fibers to the action of carbon dioxid under pressure wherebythe fibers are separated from each other by the formation of ammoniumsalts within the pores between the fibers and finally dissolving out theammonium carbonate, bicarbonate, and carbamate thus produced,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY SPENCER BLA/CKMORE.

Witnesses:

H. N. JENKINS, (J. O. WRIGHT.

